T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Electric set-up for cruiser

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Re: [Electric Boats] Electric set-up for cruiser

Greetings Shawn,

Have you decided on an e-prop solution yet ?

George

In a message dated 12/8/2010 7:18:47 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, shawngates.home@gmail.com writes:

Hello everyone:

This is my first post, so please forgive any mistakes, etc..

I have been reading some of the discussions going on and thought that I would join in, mostly to learn from your collective knowledge.

I am interested in an electric drive for a new displacement cruiser. I know that most of you are sailors and your electric systems are set up to act as an auxilliary (sp?). My boating area is system of lakes, rivers and canals that stretch from Lake Ontario (Kingston, Ontario) to the Ottawa River (Ottawa, Ontario) Either way I get to the St. Lawrence or the Great Lakes.

I am also very new to boat design but have put pen to paper ( or, mouse to autocad) to come up with a 33' double-ended cruiser that, given your experience with "slippery" displacement hulls designed for sail, I feel is worthy of consideration for electric power. I come to this conclusion after reading lots of books and articles (mostly, it seems by Dave Gerr) about hull shape and power requirements. I have also been inspired by a neighbour of mine who runs an old 30' Maine lobster boat converted to a hybrid system that has both an 8 hp DC motor and a 10 hp AC motor with a 10 kw diesel generator. His boat is as I said 30' and displaces about 16,000 lbs. Now, he only runs off batteries for a portion of his 4 hour cruise. (check out rideauboattours.com).

I plan on installing the 8kw dc motor that is offered by Thunderstruck along with the associated electric gear. I'm hoping that, like Mundoo III (See WB magazine for article), to eventually run this vessel in the 4-5 mph off of some solar panels, but initially using 8 AGM 6 volt batteries from Lifeline (either 300 ah @ 20hrs or 220 ah @ 20hrs rate). I think that a range of 20 to 30 miles is a reasonable expectation given the speed and hull shape. I can only swing a 16" prop. probably with at least a 2:1 gear reduction (toothed belt). The boat I estimate to displace approx. a little over 3 long tons (7,000 lbs) I've also estimated a DL ratio in the 120 region (quite light for it's length, but then I'm pretty well confining myself to lakes & rivers.

What do all of you think. I welcome any comments or advice. Thanks!

Shawn